This invention relates to an improvement of an automatic focusing camera and more particularly to an improvement of an automatic focusing camera equipped with a self-timer.
The automatic focusing camera capable of automatically focusing the photograph taking lens, or simply the taking lens by detecting the distance between the camera and an object and generating an electric signal to set the taking lens at a focus position has been widely accepted by photographers owing to its intrinsic ease of operation. However, the conventional automatic focusing cameras have problems in taking a photograph of the photographer himself using a self-timer. In a camera which focuses the taking lense at the moment when the self-timer is started, the range will be incorrectly set if the photographer starts the self-timer standing immediately in front of or behind the camera, while in a camera which focuses the taking lens after the self-timer has been started, the object may not be within the focus detecting area so that the taking lens will be incorrectly focused.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a system which will allow manual focusing in photographing using a self-timer by locking the shutter once when the self-timer is set, then cancelling the locking of the shutter when the automatic focusing is cancelled.